


Every Step You Take

by Morgana



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-10
Updated: 2013-09-10
Packaged: 2017-12-26 04:20:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/961489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morgana/pseuds/Morgana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lucifer's been waiting for this for a long time</p>
            </blockquote>





	Every Step You Take

Humans were such simple creatures. They found something to love and something to hate, and they clung to that most of their lives. Through life’s heartbreaks and turmoil, they held fast to their trivial beliefs, dying and killing for them with a fanatical fervor that was near unshakeable.  
  
If it weren’t so pathetic, it might almost be admirable.  
  
The Winchesters were no different. They might be touched by destiny, but they were just as petty and insignificant as the rest. They loved each other with a wild devotion, they hated demons and the things that walked in the night. Dean Winchester was in particular a lovely candidate for corruption, with his multitude of vices - food, women, music, weapons, cars... oh yes, his temptation was a sweet thing to consider. But Samuel... Samuel was different.  
  
Lucifer’s vessel didn’t share his brother’s love of pie or beer or sex. Oh, he was normal enough - nobody would be nominating him for sainthood anytime soon - but he held to it all in moderation. There was nothing he loved enough to barter his soul for, nothing he feared enough to force him into submission. He went to church, of all things, bent his knees to pray, seeking only protection for his family and peace for himself instead of the power and wealth he might have had if he had only asked for it. He had a particular fondness for those churches that still displayed the labyrinths, and unlike most of the New Agers, he understood their history and saw them as prayer techniques instead of just meditational bullshit. And whenever he found one, Samuel walked the labyrinth, carefully placing one foot in front of another, offering up heartfelt prayers to a God he'd never seen with every step, laying his heart bare as he reached the center, although Lucifer doubted his troubled soul ever found ease within it.  
  
Yes, Samuel Winchester was a puzzle. And time did little to change that - if anything, once his dreams of a paltry human life were stripped away, he became more unusual still. He devoted himself to hunting demons with a fervor that surpassed that of both father and brother, yet he declined the power that would have allowed him to rule over all when it was offered. He freed Lucifer from his cage, burning with a righteous fire that Lucifer had not seen since Michael cast him out of Heaven, only to be snatched away from him before he could so much as whisper a greeting to him. Like his brother, he was deaf to an angel’s true voice although he kept nearly constant company with one. His thirst for demon blood, once awakened, was enough to drain the rivers of Hell dry, but for the love of his brother, he first shut himself away to suffer through withdrawal, then sentenced himself to a life of solitude to keep himself clean.  
  
He turned down his first offer, but Lucifer wasn’t surprised by that. Not after the time he’d spent watching him. It was expected, really, as were the second, third, and fourth refusals. But it had been six months now, and still Sam hung doggedly onto his denial. Lucifer had offered him everything, from love and understanding to threats of reprisal against his brother and the angel that refused to leave his side. He’d offered protection for those Sam cared for, retribution for those that had taken his family and the normal life he wanted away, and still he said no. He continued to visit the church, continued his prayers and futile wishes for some kind of divine intercession, despite Lucifer’s warnings that God had forsaken them all long ago. And he continued to walk the damn labyrinth, tracing the circular path every day as though it could lead him anywhere but back to the beginning.  
  
He’d fled to the labyrinth today after he’d heard about the angels and their craven desertion of Heaven. Castiel had called him, of course. Fool that he was, he’d probably thought the news would bring Sam running back to Dean's side to once more stand together as one, but instead it had sent him here. To the labyrinth, to walk the endless twisting lines while he prayed to a God that had stopped listening before he was ever born. But today... today he knew it. The truth weighed on him, pressed down on his shoulders until he struggled to remain standing. It was beautiful, really, the way he moved as though every step was a colossal effort. He didn’t make it to the center, not this time. Halfway there, he paused, turned to look up at the ceiling and screamed, “Fuck you!”, then turned and trudged back out.  
  
And just like always, Lucifer was waiting for him when he emerged. But this time, he thought he just might get the answer he wanted.


End file.
